As the steam rose from his crew’s coffee into the early Thursday morning air, David Lynch shot a stream of flame into his 90,000 cubic-foot balloon. Lynch, a participant in this year’s Great Reno Balloon Races, was getting ready for take off.

Lynch and his wife, Kim, have been attending the balloon races for 15 years.

“In what other business can you get up early in the morning and be done by 9 a.m.?” Kim said as she explained her love for the pastime.

The Lynches, along with many others from across the globe, have descended on Rancho San Rafael Regional Park for this weekend’s balloon ascent into the northern Nevada skies.

The free event gets started today and flies through Sunday.

The Lynches began the morning Thursday by stretching their almost 80-foot-tall balloon across the field and filling it with a blast of cold air from a powerful fan.

“Then we warm the air with flames and then it goes up,” Kim said.

The “Wishing Star,” as the Lynches have affectionately named the balloon, will ascend this weekend along with 86 other balloons, some coming from as far as Auckland, New Zealand.

However, only a handful of these balloons will be participating in the annual Dawn Patrol launch on Saturday and Sunday. The balloons will rise at the dark hour of 5 a.m., illuminating the pre-dawn with their bursts of flame. According to representatives from the event, only these certain pilots are licensed to fly in the dark.

Both Kim and David have their balloon flying licenses and operated a business in their hometown of Temecula, Calif., for 14 years, giving balloon rides.

After getting the OK from a race launch director, David Lynch squeezed the propane release, sending a shot of heat into the 90,000 cubic-foot balloon, and he ascended into the air.

According to Lynch, there are several things that balloon pilots need to be aware of when flying.

“We have to abide by a lot of the same rules as aircraft,” David said. “Normally we have to stay 1,000 feet above homes.”

However for this event, pilots have the ability to descend down to 200 feet above the homes. This is through a waiver that the event files each year, according to event officials.

Because the balloon races are near a flight path for the Reno-Tahoe International Airport, the balloonists have to keep an eye out for incoming airplanes.

According to Lynch, the flight path is on the east side of Highway 395, where pilots rarely go during the event.

“The thing that has the most mobility needs to yield the right-of-way,” David said, noting that it is the airplane’s responsibility to veer if heading toward a balloon.

While in the air, he abides by some of his own rules that he said exist mainly in the ballooning community.

“The balloon below has the right of way,” David said. “That is not a rule in the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), but generally in the ballooning community.”

The Lynches will be participating in the Hare and Hound Competition Friday, where they will try, along with other balloonists, to hit an X marked on the ground with a beanbag dropped from the air.

The balloon races will also feature a Pajama Party on Saturday morning complete with a contest for the best bed-head.

Although the Lynches will be in the air watching the crowd for much of this weekend, Lynch and other balloonists will come to the ground to offer tethered balloon rides for a $5 donation to charity.